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Dev Diary: Decorations Patch

Hi everyone. We’re back with a development diary as patch 1.1.8, also known as Decorations Patch, is almost ready for you. Yes, it isn’t Detailer’s Patch #2 as this patch is not as big as the last one, but we hope you will still enjoy it. Since we wanted to get the homeless fix out as soon as possible and the decorations menu was ready to ship, we decided to bundle them together, along with a bunch of other bug fixes of course. Today, we’ll go through the new menu, how props work, and what has changed with homelessness. So let’s dive in!

DECORATIONS MENU​

We have been impressed by the creative use of the many props included in the game and when we first started putting Detailer’s Patch together, we knew we wanted to include an official and supported way to access them. For those who aren’t aware, it’s been possible to access and place props through developer mode, but as the name suggests, this isn’t a feature intended for everyday use, and as such can break things. So we’re excited to introduce the new Decorations Menu as part of the Landscaping options bringing you access to many props you can use to decorate your cities.

Detailers 1.1 - 1 Decorations menu.png

Add a personal touch to any empty area of your city using the props in the decorations menu

Landscaping now includes 8 new categories packed full of props, from stones in Nature to benches and fountains in Park to crates and silos in Industrial Props. We looked at all the existing props in the game and selected the ones that both make sense and work when placed in game. As an example, we haven’t included props that only make sense when placed on a building, like chimneys or air condition units, as prop placement on buildings is not supported. In total, you will have access to 298 props to decorate any area of your city that needs a little something extra.

Placing a prop from one of the new categories works a lot like placing trees or buildings. They have a collision area based on the item’s size and shape, and just like trees, they can be placed on top of surface areas to create beautiful plazas or manicured gardens. Once placed, they can be selected, moved using the Relocate button in the Selected Info Panel, or removed using the Bulldozer. And perhaps best of all, props are free to place as they are decoration items that don’t impact the city - well, besides making it look cool of course!

Detailers 1.1 - 2 Decorated area.png

Create plazas, parks, gardens, back alleys, or more using props and surfaces

HOMELESSNESS​

Now, let’s talk about homelessness in the game. When citizens lose their homes, either because they cannot afford them or because they get destroyed, they become homeless. If they can afford it, they will leave the city, and if they cannot, they will find temporary shelter in your city’s parks or abandoned buildings. This is where they tended to get stuck, unable to find new homes or leave the city. Patch 1.1.8 contains a series of fixes to make sure those homeless households have a chance to get back on their feet.

Previously, we had a random check for whether homeless households would look for suitable homes in the city. This has been removed so with patch 1.1.8 homeless will always try to find a suitable home in the city. But that in itself isn’t enough, it requires homes for them to move into, and that those homes are not filled by newly created households instead of the city’s homeless population. To ensure this, homelessness now affects demand in two ways. It causes fewer new households to spawn while increasing the demand for high density residential housing.

Depending on how many homeless households your city has, it may take a while before all of them get back on their feet or find their way out of the city, but you can help the process along by fulfilling the demand for residential zoning and providing public transportation out of the city, such as intercity buses or trains.

That brings us to the end of this development diary. We hope this has given you some idea of what to expect for the next patch, and we will of course release the full patch notes when patch 1.1.8f1 goes live. We’re excited to see what you create using the Decorations Menu, so don’t hesitate to post screenshots (and tag us on social media if you do) showing off your creations!
 
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Great addition to the game for some detail. Very appreciated. There is any plans to bring fences back? Also some option or policy to make buildings "Historical" so they don't "update" and break all the decoration around them (specially houses, when demolishing the fences and creating "bigger looking plots".

Thanks.
 
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hey @co_avanya. If I'm a mod developer, how can I sign up for beta releases of the game to keep my mods up to date?
We're not currently adding more people to the group, but send me a DM with a link to the mod(s) you've worked on and a little intro about yourself/why you'd like to join and how we can best reach you. Then I'll make sure you'll be considered when we do look at adding new people again in the future.

I don't get your design decisions. Not at all.

Homelessness should increase the demand for residential buildings in addition to the demand already existing. But in contrast, you let fewer people move into our cities???
About the "Previously ... " I will even not comment at all.
And why homelessness should increase the demand for high density buildings isn't completely clear either. Look at the highlighted part of the quote.
If, for whatever reason, a low density building was destroyed, wouldn't one expect that the former residents would want to move into another low density building?
Homelessness does indeed increase demand for residential in addition to the demand that already exists. The limit ensures that homeless people can actually get a home in your city at some point before they die as large/attractive cities could end up with a huge "waitlist" of people wanting to move in. That limit does not affect demand negatively.

Great news, thanks ❤️! So, there is still in plans detailers patch 2? And second question, DLCs Modern architecture and Urban Promenades are still planned for 3Q 24'?
We still have the wishes for detailing features, but we'll have to see how things turn out. Perhaps they'll end up in a larger patch, perhaps they'll end up coming in bits like how we added the Decorations Menu in this one.

As for the Creator Packs, I don't have an update on those as we (Colossal Order) only handle the implementation. But I'm sure we'll all get an update on them once it's ready. :)

Amazing!!!!!

Do you have news about enabling mods on Nvidia GeForce Now? I can't wait for this ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
No update on this yet I'm afraid, but NVIDIA and Paradox are working to find a solution.

Thank you for the update. Did I miss the release date of this or is there not one confirmed yet?
It isn't out yet but you can expect it soon. ^^

Would it be possible to add a surface painter with procedurally generated prop placement? It would be a great addition for those who would like to place additional parks and plazas here and there without spending so much time on finding and placing the right props.
Suggestions like this are always welcome, though I would recommend also posting it in the Suggestions subforum. This allows other people to join in and share how they'd like to see it/how interested they are in such a feature and it makes it much easier for us to find the discussion/comments again in the future. ^^
 
Is there a fix for the editor in this patch where you can't save or edit the climate on custom map? Have created a new map but unable to change the default weather as it won't save in the editor.

My tropical island just off Indonesia doesn't look right when its covered in snow for months
 
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Hello @co_avanya
Thank you for the news - I'm looking forward to see the whole changelog on release :)

Do you by chance know if the fix for homelessness does also fix tourists not moving in, or is this another independent topic which still needs to be addressed? My outside connections could make use of more people ;)
 
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Homelessness does indeed increase demand for residential in addition to the demand that already exists. The limit ensures that homeless people can actually get a home in your city at some point before they die as large/attractive cities could end up with a huge "waitlist" of people wanting to move in. That limit does not affect demand negatively.
This doesn't make more sense than your statements in the original posting, sorry.

If homelessness would lead to unsufficient supply in terms of homes, wouldn't it be the mayor's most noble task to take action?
Instead you create a "limit" which cannot be influenced, literally meaning that you are reducing the player's options to deal with a given situation.
 
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you are reducing the player's options to deal with a given situation.
What options, besides outside connections, does the player have to control immigration?
 
If I have the Bye Bye Homeless mod, and remove it, will it break my game with this new patch?
How could it break your game if it's removed?
 
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There is a bug with shadows and day night cycle enabled that has been reported since launch and it hasn't been fixed yet.

The shadows flicker like crazy when moving, especially during sunrise and sunset


I truly hope you guys didn't give up on that.
 
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...
Homelessness does indeed increase demand for residential in addition to the demand that already exists. The limit ensures that homeless people can actually get a home in your city at some point before they die as large/attractive cities could end up with a huge "waitlist" of people wanting to move in. That limit does not affect demand negatively.

.....

What, wait, waitlist for people wanting to move into my city? And those from the waitlist had so far priority over the homeless? How many can there be on that "waitlist"? Is there a limit to those? Can I somehow see, how many are on that waitlist?

And if the decision who can move into a a newly build flat, goes according to that waitlist, does that mean, that people from houses with high rent looking for a home with cheaper rent would be unable to change home? And therefore get homeless?

I suppose making my city less desirable to move in, to reduce that waitlist, can easily result in my city getting abandoned instead because being too bad. (Beside I want to build nice cities).

And are the people on that waitlist simulated all the time, also adding to the pressure on the CPU?
 
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Good news, I wasn't expecting such a quick update at the beginning of September with the holidays. All these small updates are interesting and add some spice to continue playing the game.

I have a simple question: will there be animated elements like highway signs, for example, to make it seem like a road is under construction, just to give a simple example?

Additionally, it would be great if the social welfare office could have a role for the homeless, allowing for the management of a sort of social security.

Thank you.
 
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